The basic purpose of security is to limit access to a resource on a per user basis. Resources may either be operations, or data. For example, you may wish to restrict some users from editing records, and other from viewing only certain records.

When used to limit access to operations, security can help to ensure that the desired workflow chain is maintained. For example, by removing the option to edit all fields in the data record, users can be prevented from mistakenly entering the wrong information or altering previously entered information.

Security can also be used to help protect data, allowing only select groups of individuals to operate on particular records. This is useful if you wish to prevent a group of users from viewing records that are of no concern to them, for example customers or users working on different projects.

User Groups and Privileges

Tracker allows you to set security for both operations and data using a User Group security model similar to that used by Microsoft Windows Server. You can create any number of user groups and assign access to operations and other privileges to each group. Individual users can then be assigned to groups. Being a member of a group means that you obtain all the rights and privileges assigned to the group. For example, to be able to access the Admin operations, you must be a member of a group(s) that has the Admin privilege assigned to it.

Information about creating and managing User Groups can be found in the User Accounts - Groups section.

Information about user group privileges can be found in the User Accounts - Privileges section.

Project Visibility

Tracker allows projects to be set such that they are visible to certain user groups via the Projects section. This allows you to restrict users such that they can only add and access records for projects in which they are involved.

Record Visibility

Record Visibility allows you to restrict the individual records a user can access based on their user group membership. Record Visibility is useful when you have external users (e.g. customers, vendors, partners) who will be accessing Tracker and you want to keep Company A from accessing Company B's records, while still allowing internal users to access records for all customers. Information on configuring Record Visibility can be found in the General Preferences section.

Field Visibility

Field Visibility is the feature that allows you to configure which fields are available on the pages in Tracker for each user group. For example, let's say there are some fields that you only want internal users to be able to see when they go to the View page for a record. Field Visibility allows you to choose which fields are displayed in the different areas such as Add, View, Edit, Query/Home reports, email notification messages. Information about configuring Field Visibility can be found in the Fields section.

The next section provides information to help you put it all together.